1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet conveying apparatus that enables a plurality of sheets such as printing paper, films, or the like, which have been conveyed along a plurality of rows of conveying paths, respectively to be fed while being arranged in a single row.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printer processor of a machine using a sheet conveying apparatus may be given as an example. In such a printer processor, a photosensitive material that is rolled in a roll state is fed continuously and sent to an exposure section where a printing process is performed on the photosensitive material. The printing paper in the roll state is then cut each time a frame image on a photographic film is exposed in the exposure section.
Since the printing process time taken in this exposure section is extremely short as compared to the developing process time in a developing section that follows on this, each piece of the exposed printing paper which has been cut into a plurality of pieces is distributed onto a plurality of rows of conveying paths and then fed to the developing section while being arranged so as to form a staggered arrangement over all conveying paths.
In the developing section, a developing process is performed on a plurality of pieces of the printing paper which are fed along the plurality of rows of the conveying paths while being arranged in parallel. In this way, since the plurality of the pieces of printing paper are subject to the developing process while being arranged in parallel, waiting time becomes unnecessary for the printing paper having completed the exposure process in the exposure section, and the exposed printing paper is thereby directly fed to the developing section. Accordingly, the processes of the printing paper as a whole can be performed in accordance with a short processing time in the exposure section. As a result, the processing time as a whole can be reduced as compared to the case in which a developing process is performed on a piece of the exposed printing paper in a roll state while being arranged in a single row as it is without being cut off, namely, the case in which the processes of the printing paper as a whole are performed in accordance with a long processing time in the developing section.
In this way, the plurality of pieces of the printing paper, which are fed along the plurality of the conveying paths in the developing section, are conveyed by the sheet conveying apparatus so as to form a line, in sequence they are exposed in the exposure section.
Conventionally, as an example of such a sheet conveying apparatus as described above, Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-B) No. 60-23343 discloses a printing paper pick-up device of a developing machine.
In this disclosure, a developing process is performed on the exposed printing paper as they pass through a developing processing tank while being conveyed along a plurality of the conveying paths arranged in parallel, and gate means are provided at the respective conveying paths at an outlet side of this developing processing tank so as to prevent the conveyance of each of the printing paper. When the printing paper that have been conveyed along each of the conveying paths which are disposed in parallel, are arranged in a transverse line by these gate means, or when a predetermined time has passed since the first printing paper reached the gate means, the gate means are opened in sequence at predetermined intervals so as to control the pieces of printing paper, which have been prevented from being conveyed by each of the gate means, to be fed sequentially in that order they are exposed.
In such a printing paper pick-up device of a developing machine as described above as one of the conventional sheet conveying apparatuses, because gate means should be provided so as to halt the printing paper on the plurality of the conveying paths, and a sensor for detecting whether the printing paper are halted at each of the gate means should also be provided, a structure for forming the device becomes complicated. Further, there has been a problem in that a structure for carrying out an operation, in which each of the printing paper which have been halted at the respective gate means is released under a predetermined condition, and then fed intermittently, becomes complicated.